Carton expander



July 3o, 1929. c. A. coucn CARTON EXPANDER l Filed March 3, 1928 '5 l @am acm@ lNvENToR 1MM-73 mx ATTORNEY Patented July 30, 1929.

UNITEDy STATI CHARLES A. COUCH, OF WARE SHOALS, SOUTH CAROLINA, ASSIGN'OR T0 WARE SHOALS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF WARE SI-IOALS, SOUTH CAROLINA, A CORPORA- TION OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CARTON EXPANDER.

Application led March 3, 1928.

The cartons in whichcertain articles of merchandise-handkerchiefs, for exampleare packaged, either individually or in lots of two, three or more, for sale by the retail trade, are now commonly made from paper blanks which are stamped out and scored along the lines of fold in dies and then folded flat, one side edge suitably overlapping the other side edge, and pasted together along the overlapped edges, in which form, as flattened tubes, the cartons are packed and shipped to the manufacturers of the articles for which they are intended. To package the articles therein the flattened tube musty first be expanded, to rectangular form, and, after the insertion of the article therein, closedat its two ends.

The object of my present invention is to provide a cheap and simple device by means of which such cartons may be suitably expanded and conveniently held while one of their ends is being closed; and to this end the invention, briefly stated, consists of two plates, each of substantially the width of the carton to be expanded, which are so united by a hinged connection that when the plates are moved laterally one with respect to the other they will be brought together with the side edge of one extending beyond the side edge of the other for a distance approximate ly equal to the side width of the finished carton and when moved back or in the opposite direction will be forced apart for the same distance, one lof the plates being preferably provided with means by which the device can be mounted upon a bench or table in convenient position for use.

One practical embodiment of the invention is shown, by way of illustration and not of limitation, in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of the device showing what may be designated as the front or face thereof, with a part of the front plate broken away, and a flat carton in position to be slipped thereon; Fig. 2 is a` perspective view of the device showing the back thereof; Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, showing the two hinged plates with the flattened carton in position thereon; and Fig. 4L is a view corresponding to Fig. 3 but showing the plates in the rela- Serial No. 258,769.

tive position towhich they are moved in expanding the carton.

Referring to the drawings, 5 indicates the back plate of the device and 6 its front plate; and 7 indicates the hinge-member which along each side is rigidly joined, centrally thereof, to each of the two plates and by which the plates are operatively united. Attached to the outer side of one of the plates, preferably the back plate as shown,.is a stop member 8, against which an end of the carton abuts and by which it is held in position for the convenient folding in of the ends flaps at its other or upper' end.l The legs 9 9, at-` tached to the rear plate at its lower end, provide the means for mounting the device upon a bench or table in convenient position for` use, preferably at an incline as shown.

In use, the forward plate is swung to one side of and thereby drawn back against the back plate, and while the plates are thus collapsed a flattened carton 10 is slipped thereon. The front plate is then moved in the opposite direction, forcing the twoplates apart to expand the carton, and, while the carton is so held therein, the two side pieces l1 and the end piece 12 will be folded in to close its upper end. rlhe carton, so expanded and with one end closed, is then removed from the plates, and the operation is repeated. With practice, an operator can expand and close an end of the cartons one after another with great rapidity, using one hand, usually the left, to shift the front plate back and forth and the other hand to handle the cartons and to fold in the end pieces.

The hinge connection between the two plates may obviously besuch that the movable plate may be swung to either side of the fixed plate or to one side only thereof and stopped when moved back into alignment therewith. With the single centrally located hinge connection shown, the front plate when moved laterally and forced forwardlyin expanding a carton will move in substantially parallel relationship to the back plate, being so heldby the carton which naturally folds along the lines scored therefor. If found desirable, however, instead-of the single central hinge connection here provided the two plates may beoperatively connected by a hinged connection at or adjoiningveach of their opposite sides. The device may be further modified in the several details of its construction, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to ksecure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a device of the character described, the combination of two suitable plates one of which is mounted upon the other by a hinge connection, whereby one plate may be shifted bodily to a limited extent laterally with respect to the other to thereby draw the two plates together1 in position to receive a flattened carton and then shifted bodily in the opposite direction to force the twoplates apart and so expand the carton.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of two suitable plates7 a hinge connection uniting` them whereby the plates will be brought togetherto receive a flattened carton when one plate is moved laterally with respect toy the other and will be forced apart to expand the carton when the movement is reversed, and a stop member attached to the outer side of one of the plates to suitably position the carton thereon for the closing, when expanded, of one of its ends.

Y CHARLES A. COUCH. 

